Gidge – New Light LP (2×12″)

Gidge – the Swedish duo consisting of Ludvig Stolterman and Jonatan Nilsson – are back with a new album. Marking their 5th release on Atomnation, “New Light” can be seen as their second full-length album to date, following up 2014’s mythical “Autumn Bells” LP.

“New Light” features 9 new tracks, a project Gidge has worked on for about 3 years. With this release, Ludvig and Jonatan crossed the seas to find new inspiration in the massive landscapes of the Pacific Northwest, USA. This environment – a place where great mountains, ancient forests, and never-ending oceans meet – helped shape an album that is signature for people that are familiar with the music from Gidge, yet, can be seen as their most eclectic work to date. They refined the production technique on their new album by intensifying the sound palette with analog synthesis and crispy hi-hats. The track “Perimeter” might be the perfect example of this – spanning over exactly 10 minutes, the intensity of the synths in combination with the sharp hats throughout are absolutely fire.

Gidge has a history of making electronic music that is shaped by recordings of Swedish nature, both comfortable on the dance floor and in a more relaxing environment. Each and every Gidge track creates its own sense of atmosphere and emotion, whether that is nostalgia, rest, or epicness. Their work evolves naturally, often building to powerful peaks from a silent break that is tweaked with vocal samples, crackles of field recordings, and neo-classical influences.

While often being adored for the inspiration that is drawn from the forest, nature, and the north of Sweden (and rightly so), the music of Gidge has actually been of an absolute international caliber and is listened to by people from all over the world. Gidge sold out club-tour shows in London, Amsterdam, Paris, and Stockholm, and played their live-set to crowds on festivals in Mexico, Georgia, Turkey and Thailand. Blogs such as Pigeons & Planes, A Closer Listen, and Ransom Note wrote about their music – Pitchfork staffers chose Gidge amongst their favorite artists to listen to on snowy days – XLR8R readers voted Gidge to the #1 spot of ‘best new electronic act’ in 2015 – Bandcamp highlighted “LNLNN” as ‘album of the day’ in 2017. The list goes on…

Rooted in the city of Umeå, Sweden, Jonatan Nilsson and Ludvig Stolterman became friends at 15 through a shared love of electronic music. Their discography includes the album “Autumn Bells”, short-film “Lulin” (in collaboration with Lampray), mini-album “LNLNN”, and debut EP “For Seoul”. Ludvig and Jonatan have both lived (and travelled) all over Europe, including cities such as Paris, Oslo, Berlin, and Den Haag. At this moment, Jonatan resides in Oslo and Ludvig in Umeå – the place where they finished the last bits of “New Light” and run arts platform “NORR arts” together with Vilma Larsson.